Tea
by Eloeehez
Summary: One Shot.  How Kate, as a hologram, makes tea for Lady Caterina. More of close friendship infoshipping  Mostly Kate’s thoughts and POV.


**A/N:** My first attempt at an infoship. It turned out more of a close friendship fic than anything else. All Kate's POV. Inspired by instantaneousdeath's comment of, "Although I do  
wonder how she makes real tea for Caterina if she is a hologram... o.0" And this is what I got...

**A/N2:** Okay, I did a little bit of editing. Nothing really changed much, I just tried to make it a little bit easier reading. I hope.

Try and enjoy. Review please. Constructive criticism welcome, flames will be used to make dinner. Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Sister Kate was quietly running routine diagnostics on the _Iron Maiden_'s systems when she received Lady Caterina's call. 

"Yes, Your Eminence?" Kate asked, materializing in front of the Cardinal's desk. Lady Caterina sat behind her mountain of paperwork with a perpetual air of calm even though the work looked as if it could swallow her whole.

"Are you busy, Sister Kate?" Caterina asked, knowing full well that Kate wasn't, the question being more of a formality than anything else.

"No." Kate answered. The diagnostics could run on their own, Kate merely liked to run them herself on occasion. "Would you like some tea Your Eminence?" They both knew that Lady Caterina greatly enjoyed the herbal teas that Kate took so much pride in.

"Yes, I would Sister Kate." Lady Caterina told her, a small smile on her lips at Kate's anticipation of her request.

"It will be ready in a few minutes Your Eminence." Kate told her, disappearing. It was for occasions like this that the Professor had made a few truly useful machines that Kate could manipulate as she did the _Iron Maiden_, except these she could use to make tea herself. These machines were handy and Kate did appreciate their presence, but there was still another way to make tea, one Kate liked even more.

It was a simple matter to locate Tres, appearing before him in a matter of seconds. Of everyone, Tres was the only one who was never startled by her sudden appearances, something which Kate appreciated despite the fact that everyone else also brushed it of as nothing, citing the fact that Tres was an android. Many of her co-workers valued Tres, a few even thinking of him in 'more than just a simple machine' terms, but no one could quite appreciate him and his friendship as she could, as robotic as it sometimes was.

"Sister Kate." Tres intoned, stopping his forward progress to face her. "Are you in need of something?"

"Yes." Kate answered. "Lady Caterina would like some tea, if you wouldn't mind."

"Negative. Proceed." Tres answered, and Kate smiled softly, engaging a program designed for just this sort of task. The Professor had helped Kate design this program, one which allowed for her to take control of other machinery. Originally he had simply designed it for the tea equipment, but had modified it, upon her request, enabling her to be capable of moving around in Tres' body as if it were her own. She had, of course, asked Tres first if he would be willing, a request to which he had shown a slight surprise, but agreed to.

A soft sigh of contentment escaped Kate's lips as her holographic body disappeared and her consciousness slowly flooded through Tres' circuits. It had been some time since Kate had been able to move around in Tres' body, but not nearly as long as her own body lay dormant. Still, she savored every moment, not merely for the time to move about as she used to, but for the time spent with Tres in such an intimate manner. She recalled the first time the program had been activated…

Kate had been slightly disturbed by the feeling of her consciousness being displaced from her body, even though it was merely holographic. As she entered Tres' body, she perceived a tingling warmth which Tres had stated was merely a shift in the electrical currents, but still, she was there. In a way it was comforting. All of her co-workers were sympathetic towards her lack of a physical body that worked, but of all of them, only Tres could truly sympathize with her in that absence of flesh and bone. Although, where she missed her body, Tres could not since he was never in possession of one. But that did not mean he couldn't understand the feeling, it was merely that he did not dwell on such things.

Kate had slowly raised his arms, noticing how her consciousness made her feel as if she were wearing Tres' body like a glove. There were no words to describe the feeling of suddenly perceiving the floor beneath his feet, to notice the chair upon which he sat, but most of all, to feel Tres, hovering in the background, ready to spring into action. Purposefully, Kate had the program designed so she merely controlled his actions and in no way truly suppressed him, allowing that he could intervene if needed. Suppressing him like that would have been far too cruel a thing to do to one so dear. At first he hadn't understood, asking why she did not merely pause his programming and make his body her own for the times she needed it, but gradually he came to accept that she did not see him as 'just' a machine, but rather someone who held value so she would not remove him from himself. Kate wished she could at least change his mind about holding himself as lower than humans.

That first few minutes had been the greatest adjustment as Kate learned to move Tres, discovering his strength when she almost crushed the handle of the Professor's door, and then nearly ripped it off its hinges. Only Tres' gentle intervention had prevented serious damage. Subtly, without overriding her control, he had eased her grip on the handle, and slowed her movements as she opened the door. To Kate, the feeling had been much like that of him placing his hands over her own and guiding her. Also in those moments, Kate realized that she could 'hear' Tres as his CPU analyzed the pressure on the handle and the warning of excessive pressure. She realized the signals were much like those of the _Maiden_ and quickly learned how to interpret them so that the next time she grabbed a door handle she was in no danger of leaving his fingerprints on it...

Abruptly Tres interrupted Kate's reminiscing. _'Sister Kate.'_ The program allowed for direct internal communication between them, and although the communication was actually between Tres and the _Maiden_ it felt to Kate as though they were talking inside Tres' head, so to speak. _'You have not moved for 8.26 seconds. Is there a malfunction in the program?'_

_'No, Tres.'_ Kate answered, _'I was merely thinking.'_ As Kate moved through the halls of the Vatican, she savored the feelings of the floor under Tres' boots, and the way his uniform moved from the slight breeze generated by walking. It was those little things she missed the most, the sensations of everyday life. Although they were merely data, they were more real than anything Kate had experienced since falling into a coma.

She noticed the stares of some of the people she passed, remembering the confusion and uncertainty in which some had regarded her when she had tried to speak with them that first time. Their surprise was overly obvious, hearing her voice coming from Tres' mouth, her expressions on his features, and her body language acted through him. Most got used to it after a short time, but much to her chagrin, some seemed too uncomfortable with it to speak with her at times like these. Some people could be so cruel.

Making tea like this was almost a guilty pleasure to Kate, using his hands to grab the teapot, cup, and saucer, grasping the tea leaves, and using his sensory input to even mix teas together in a pleasing way. She also enjoyed this time spent with Tres, sometimes silent, but often they spoke. Kate was actually giving Tres 'social lessons.' During a conversation with Father Nightroad, Kate had felt Tres' confusion, faint and quickly suppressed, at a comment he made. Later she proceeded to explain it to him, trying her hardest to get him to understand. Although he would never say it, he felt slightly awkward in social situations, or even on missions where his partner would start a conversation, and then proceed to use terms and vocabulary in ways he was not programmed to interpret. So Kate gave him these mini social lessons in hopes that she would help him be more comfortable during those times, and even possibly convince some skeptics that he was more than just an 'emotionless, lifeless Killing Doll.' Although there were times that his confusion was just too cute to interfere with.

Kate, still in Tres' body served Cardinal Sforza her tea a few minutes later.

"Thank you." Lady Caterina spoke to both of them, those two words saying both, 'thank you for the tea,' and 'thank you, once again, for allowing Kate to do this.' She had said it the first few times Kate had moved as Tres, but now she knew she need not.

"Your welcome." Kate told her.

Those first few times, Tres had also responded, giving his expected, 'negative, you need not thank me,' but both Kate and Lady Caterina disagreed. Although Kate still hadn't managed to convince him to ever say you're welcome, she had at least convinced him in this instance that denial such as that was unneeded. Getting him to fully accept her gratitude would be another matter.

_'Thank you Tres.'_ Kate murmured quietly to him alone as she deactivated the program.

FIN


End file.
